This set from Hat manufacturer is made of hard plastic, easy to cut but still difficult to glue, there was a problem with the mold because 2 or 3 ponytails were broken in every box so I made a hole and replaced it by hair brush (because the broken plastic tail is impossible to glue strongly even if you use super glue).

Only 4 poses available, it's not enough so to diversify them I dipped few figures into boiling water and shaped their hand with my fingers, I also replaced their hat with some extra fur hat provided in the box, a pin is needed so the gluing is strong enough.

The strelets set is clearly intended to represent the long retreat in the snow with not so good looking uniform, it's perfect for my project.

The horses are primed with Tamiya XF10 (dark brown) and XF64 (light brown) and black XF1

Nothing specific to mention except the awful rubber like plastic of Hat manufacturer, it take much more longer and require much more blades (1 for 5 soldiers...) to cut the mold line and this is why I'm not buying a lot of them but their diversity is a welcome addition. The light blue plastic of the Horse Grenadiers was quite better for cutting and sanding and no problem at all with Strelets. The primer of the horse is Tamiya XF 72 (light brown), XF64 (medium brown), XF 10 (dark brown) and XF1 black. For the French Horse Grenadiers it's only black and dark brown XF10

I've covered 2 plastic bases with paper glue in order to make slightly irregular ground.

FRANZNAP:

31 French Marins de la garde10 French Tambours Majors18 French pontonniers (3 different sets)

SCHILLING FIGUREN:

1 wagon (2 wheels)1 sledge with 3 figures1 gun with 8 figures

No flash, nearly no mold line and parts fit each others perfectly.

I've replaced the 2 rods of the sledge by the same ones but made of a stronger metal because lead can bend or break far too easily and it's for wargames, not just a diorama, so it need to be strong.

Nothing is more frustrating to see a model breaking into parts in your hands when you just finished the painting ! This is why I'm gluing everything before painting, otherwise you're only gluing the 2 layers of painting together...

The snow is from NOCH, excellent product, it's like a filler but I was surprised to see how strongly it can glue anything together (no need to add glue). It can be diluted with water (and wash your tools) and it's easy to work with, I will add another layer of snow more thicker when the painting will be finished.

I am really exited to see you bought all these Schilling, Franznap and Fine Scale metal models and figures. Because this is stuff we should see more often at Benno's Forum in stead of all that plastic stuff from the big companies. Also these are very good, original and realistic models.

But ADM, I start really worrying about you. When will you stop buying&cutting (the easy part) and start painting? (the hard and monotonous part) ?

I know you worked like this when you made that aircrafcarrier and your West Pacific battlefield. But that was with a few dozens of human figures. But this is gonna be thousands, right?

Mr. Cryns wrote:I am really exited to see you bought all these Schilling, Franznap and Fine Scale metal models and figures. Because this is stuff we should see more often at Benno's Forum in stead of all that plastic stuff from the big companies. Also these are very good, original and realistic models.

But ADM, I start really worrying about you. When will you stop buying&cutting (the easy part) and start painting? (the hard and monotonous part) ?

I know you worked like this when you made that aircrafcarrier and your West Pacific battlefield. But that was with a few dozens of human figures. But this is gonna be thousands, right?

Mr. Cryns,Cutting and cleaning figures isn't always the easiest part, it can be really difficult when the plastic is like rubber (mostly Hat figures, and the result can be really messy). But I'm very close to start the painting, one more step of primer with the 4 box left on my shelves and then I will start to paint those 2000 figures, and a few more sets will be added before the end of painting, I'm thinking right now about the polish infantry from Strelets, not available yet.

For my aircraft carrier and my diorama of the pacific battle I've painted around 800 Figures in 4 years (plastic/resin/metal and plenty of vehicules, boat, planes), not just a few dozens, not to mention the 125 figures of the french foreign legion of the summer 2016 (and plenty of vehicules, boat, planes). And this is why I prefer plastic figures to build huge armies, it cost less. I use white metal when the subject isn't covered by plastic manufacturers or when the quality is amazing. Maybe I've painted more figures than everybody else together on this forum during the past years !!!

Painting 2000 figures is a challenge, especially for the Napoleonic period because the uniforms are beautiful with plenty of colors and ornaments. I'm impatient to start the painting but I must finish removing the mold line because this is important to obtain a great painting from every side, not just from the face and the back. This step is clearly not the most exciting because it take months just to prepare the figures for painting, and the result isn't visible until it's painted.

And after the figures will come the diorama (summer and winter) with plenty of things on it.

I appreciate your work a lot, so I think you understand the long process of a great work accomplished with passion.

Figures are white XF2 with a slight touch of greyFrench wagons are XF26 deep greenBavarian Wagons are XF18 medium blueHorses are 3 tones : - XF64 red brown- XF10 flat brown- XF72 brownSledge, wagon with 2 wheels, Wurttemberg artillery and some accessories are XF57 Buff. the cavalry was made of hard plastic so it's much better than the soft one of the infantry (a nightmare to work with).

One more round with 4 boxes who are awaiting to be primed the next time and the painting will start immediately after.